Method of lasting button-boots.



0. TWEBDIE. 7 METHOD OF LASTING BUTTON BOOTS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1910 TH: NQRRIS PETERS co., WASHINGTON, 9. c4

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

CHARLES TWEEDIE, 0F JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI.

METHOD OF LASTING BUTTON-BOOTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

Application filed September 1, 1910. Serial No. 580,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Twnnom, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jefferson City, in the county of Cole and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Methods of Lasting Button-Boots, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the lasting of high cut button shoes or boots.

It has for its principal object to facilitate the use, in lasting high cut button shoes or boots, lasts intended for low cut shoes commonly known as Oxford ties, button Oxfords, Blucher Oxfords, pumps, and slippers, and thereby minimize the last expense by enabling the shoe manufacturer to use but one kind of last for all kinds of shoes.

In the manufacture of high cut button shoes or boots, it is the usual practice to use special or regular high cut button boot lasts, or to build up the cone or top of a low cut shoe last by tacking or otherwise securing thereon wedges or pieces of leather or other suitable material, to take up the slack in the shoe upper. In the first instance, the cost of a special set of lasts for high cut button.

shoes is considerable, while in the second case, great care must necessarily be exercised in properly building up the low cut lasts. So, too, in the latter case, there is a risk of the laster failing to properly apply the leather pieces. I

A further object of my invention, therefore, is to obviate this risk as well as to save the labor and expense incidental to such practice; and to attain certain advantages hereinafter more fully appearing.

The invention consists primarilyin buttoning the buttonfly over the slim quarter or outer side of the upper, and then insorting a wedge or other suitable tool through the lowermost button-holes between the buttons and rear ends of the respective button-holes, so as to draw the button-fly rearwardly over the slim quarter prior to laying the upper over the last preparatory to drafting or lasting it over the latter.

Theinvention consists'further in the steps and arrangements and combinations thereof hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing which drawings, the shoe is lasted forms part of this specification and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, Figure l is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section, showing a shoe upper lasted according to my inven* tion; Fig. 2 is a plan of the bottom of the lasted shoe illustrated in Fig. 1; and Figs. 8, 4 and 5 are detail views of different forms of wedges or tools which may be used in connection with my invention.

As shown more clearly in Fig. l of the over an ordinary low cut shoe last 1. The button-fly 2 which is stitched to the front edge of the inner side portion 3 of the upper, is buttoned over the slim quarter 4; and the vamp 5 and foxing 6 are drafted under the last and tacked by a multiplicity of tacks 7 to the insole 8 which is tacked to the bottom of the last by tacks 9.

The wedge shape tool 10 is shown, in Fig. 1, inserted through the third button-hole from the bottom, under the button-fly and out through the lowermost button-hole, between the buttons and the rear ends of said button-holes. It is preferable to use a wedge shape tool for the reason that there is very little slack to be taken up at the lowermost button-hole because the upper at that point would open up but very little, but the tendency to open begins with said button-hole just referred to and increases with each succeeding button-hole up to the fourth and fifth. In some cases, instead of inserting the tool through the third button-hole as shown in Fig. 1, the same may be inserted through the fourth or even the fifth, depending upon the height of the cone of the last and the amount of slack to be taken up.

By the use of the wedge shape tool, the seam of the button-fly and quarter is kept over the center or ridge of the cone of the last, and the tool as applied also prevents the outer side portion of the upper from being pulled too far under the last and thereby obviates injury to the symmetry of the vamp and foxing lines as compared with the other or inner side of the shoe.

The tool is useful for the different processes of shoe fastening, to wit: Goodyear welt, Goodyear or hand turned, machine or McKay sewed, or metallic fastened. The

tool is usually removed from any shoes made under the above processes by simply giving the tool a half turn in the button-hole and then drawing it out. The proper time to re move the tool is just before the lasts are pulled out of the shoes which, in the case of McKay, machine sewed, or metallic fastened, is after the sole has been laid and tacked, or just prior to fastening the sole to the shoe. In the case of Goodyear welts, after the shoes are entirely finished, where such shoes are heeled on the first or original lasts; and where they (Goodyear welts) are heeled on heeling jacks and not on the first or original lasts, the tool is removed before pulling the lasts, immediately preceding the operation of attaching the heels.

In the case of turned shoes, the tool is removed by the second laster, or in other words, the operator whose duty it is to turn the shoe. This process is known as second turn lasting; and the tool is reinserted after the shoe is re-lasted. The tool is removed again just the same as explained in regard to Goodyear welts.

While the principal object of my invention is to facilitate the use of low cut shoe lasts in the manufacture of high cut button shoes or boots, obviously the same method may be employed in cases where regular or special high cut shoe lasts are used, for the purpose of taking up the slack in the upper when the upper is laid over the last. By this method, suflicient upper is insured to fit standard sized feet, and it obviates the necessity of setting the buttons forward on the slim quarter in order to button the shoe over the foot in cases where the instep is high and thick. In cases where the instep is low and thin, the buttons may be easily set back without affecting the symmetry and neat appearance of the shoe; whereas, if the buttons were set forward, the marks of the original positions of the buttons would be exposed and mar the appearance of the shoe.

As illustrated in the drawings, the tools 10 are tapered or wedge shape, and they are provided with hooked, or turned end portions 11 which prevent the tools from accidentally working out when inserted through the button-holes. As shown in Fig. 3, the tool comprises a single piece of heavy wire which is looped and has its end portions brought together. As shown in Fig. 4, the end portions of the wire may be welded or otherwise fastened together. In Fig. 5, the wedge is shown as a piece which may be blanked from a sheet of metal.

The particular construction and shape of the tool may be varied without departing from my invention, and, therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the specific forms and constructions shown.

What I claim is:

1. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper and then inserting a tool through the button-holes nearest the vamp, between the buttons and the rear ends of said buttonholes, and then drafting the upper over the bottom of the last.

2. The method of lasting button boots or. shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper and then inserting a wedge shape tool downwardly through the lowermost buttonholes, between the buttons and the rear ends of said button-holes, and then drafting or lasting the upper over the bottom of the last.

3. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper and then inserting a tool through the button-holes in proximity to the instep, then alining the seam between the button-fly and inside quarter of the shoe upper with the ridge of the cone of the last, and then drafting or lasting the upper over the bottom of the last.

4. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper, then inserting a wedge shape tool through the button-holes in proximity to the instep between the buttons and the rear ends of said button-holes, then alining the seam between the button-fly and inside quarter of the upper with the ridge of the cone of the last, and then drafting or lasting the upper over the bottom of the last. 1

5. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper, then inserting a wedge shape tool downwardly through the button-holes in proximity to the instep, between the buttons and the rear ends of said button-holes, and then drafting or lasting the upper over the bottom of the last.

6. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper, then inserting a wedge shape tool downwardly through the button-holes in proximity to the instep, between the buttons and the rear ends of said button-holes, then alining the seam between the button-fly and inside quarter of the upper with the ridge of the cone of the last, and then drafting or lasting the upper over the bottom of the lasts.

7. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first but-toningthe upper, then inserting a wedge shape tool having a' hooked smaller end downwardly through the button-holes in proximity to the instep, between the buttons and the outer ends of said button-holes, and then'drafting or lasting the upper over the bottomof the last.

8. The method of lasting button boots or shoes which consists in first buttoning the upper, then applying a tool to draw and hold the portion of the button-fly in proximity to the instep rearwardly over the slim quarter of the upper With the front ends of the but- 5 ton-holes in contact With the buttons and I Witnesses:

Signed at Jefferson City, Missouri, this 27th day of August, 1910.

CHAS. TVVEEDIE.

then drafting or lasting the upper over the G. A. GUNTKER, bottom of the last. H. C. HOEFER. 

